[unclefester]

I can tell you they look very very sticky on his car ;)

[Nick Graves]

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Paul, please can you post pictures of the tyres when they have been mounted. Ta

They sort of look like a black thing round a silver thing, Haroon?

[The Loon]

:D Stop being facetious Graves

[MUG3N]

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They sort of look like a black thing round a silver thing, Haroon?

:spitcoffee: Funny I was thinking exactly the same thing :LOL:

Hope this helps you Haroon :)

[The Loon]

Very helpful Adrian, thanks muchly :)

[Nick Graves]

:D

They seem awfully good on slightly damp roads too.

Doubtful about standing water...

[s2k_Nut]

Well, I just twatted it down the M6 in a rain storm of stair rods to the JAE, the car felt totally planted and I had no concerns whatsoever from the car, they shifted the water brilliantly ... let me start at the beginning ...

Tyres arrived within 2 days of ordering, fantastic service in this regard :thumbup: to Dixon.

Had them fitted by a local tyre fella, £40.00 all in and with 32psi tyre pressure all round. Before setting off took a reading of my mileage and it was 68,944

Then drove it very carefully for 5 or 6 miles just in case .. then drove it on some local twisties at about 80% of my usual driving style and covered approx 30 miles ... my impressions after this were to say the least 'very good'. On first sitting in the car I noticed immediately how much more weight appeared to be on the steering wheel, and it occurred to me this is likely down to the shear amount of grip these tyres give to the front wheels being felt through the steering wheel and giving the appearance of heavier steering. (I nearly fell foul of this 'extra' grip tramping down the motorway the next day, I accidentally pulled down slightly on my steering wheel by about 1 inch maybe two and the car responded immediately from the front, it focused my mind I can state that much :) )

The other thing I noticed immediately was the sheer grip when accelerating away, no scrambling about for grip with these, I am sure they were biting chunks of tarmac up they gripped so hard ;) Putting the hammer down from a standing start and they give full traction straight away, I also noticed this when on the move, for example dropping down into second seemed to give me immediate response in acceleration, very impressive indeed.

The car sits slightly higher than it did on the Bridgestones and also the Falkens.



When on the move, at speed on the first part of my journey today I felt the car go a little 'light', on a very bumpy but very fast local road, however I went faster later in the day and on similarly bumpy roads and didn't feel it again, perhaps it was just the super new tread depth's not sure.

So, I set off this morning down to Milton Keynes to meet up with Uncle Fester (thanks for that Patrick :) ), and then off to JAE in Kettering, this was approx a 200 mile trip for me in total. Most of the mileage was motorway, and I had all weathers to contend with, stair rods of rain were piling down, damp and drying out parts of motorway, bone dry motorway, gusting winds, and I can honestly say the tyres handled all of it perfectly, I was very impressed. Once off the motorways there were a few dual carriageways but I was frustrated on them, it was too easy for the tyres I could feel them 'come on Paul, give us some useage won't ya, you big girl !' they were saying .. well I thought they were so I took a sharp left off a dual carriageway onto some road that got me and the sat nav completely lost but was full of bends and straights to keep me occupied, oh what fun I had even though i ended up 6 miles behind where I had taken a left turn ... heh heh. Arrived at JAE totally impressed and had a bite to eat (courtesy of Rob) spoke to lots of lovely people from this forum, met a few new and met a few old too, chewed the fat with GavB about his supercharger, very nice it was too .... met Xd for the first time, had a chat with esem about tyres and seats ... but all the while those damn tyres were beckoning ... so I had to give in ... I refused any temptation of beer ... which was very difficult and set off back home around 4pm ish ... Once again I hit all kinds of weather going back home, a massive rain storm passing through Birmingham that lasted maybe 15 miles, it rained so hard I got soaked with my roof down, and as you all know if it rains normally at motorway speeds you will not get wet ... but this was a very heavy prolonged shower, hot dry and sunny stretches, and lots of wind too ... and once again no issues from the tyres. They were simply fantastic, oh one other thing ... stopping ... these tyres would stop me in a much shorter distance than my others tyres so much so I felt like I had a brake upgrade, seriously the difference in stopping power compared to any tyres I have used in the past is incredible, with perhaps the single exception of Ron's S shod with R888 which I drove around a roundabout at an impossible speed my ar$e bolted in his buddy club seats and Ron being Ron telling me to keep my foot hard into the carpet ... :eek:

Tomorrow, my friend has invited me to drive over to Yorkshire, he will be in his MR2 turbo, he wants me to get up at 5am to be at his and ready to go for 6am probably for another 150 or so miles around twisties ... the one day of the week I can have a lie in .... but I don't care, I will be up at 5.30am and hooning down to his because I just got to go drive the car with these new tyres on once again, can't wait!

Just going to add some pics for the loon, although I thought Nicks description was perfect a picture paints a thousand words. :)





Yeah I know my wheels are f ucked ... these are battle scars from a wet Sunday over 2 years ago on a welsh mountain top with less than 2mm on my bridgestones and not enough talent to negotiate the river flowing down the road !!! ;)

Oh and Nick, your car looks fantastic! :thumbup:

This post has been edited by s2k_Nut: 11 September 2010 - 02:18 PM

[chrisr111]

I reckon the reason for the improved braking, apart from being contructed from what seems like a much stickier compound, is because the fronts are so much wider than the OEM Bridgestones.

I like them as well ;)

Chris.

[unclefester]

Nice to meet you today too Paul and glad you had a fun drive over to JAE :)

[The Loon]

Interesting write up Paul...thanks for posting the pics.

I wonder what they are like in the extreme wet.

[MB]

My A048's are good in the extreme wet, or they were on the Exige. Lot of tyre / wet weather pussies on here though :D

[s2k_Nut]

I had extreme wet today on the Motorway, I obviously didn't stress it enough, it was EXTREME on the M6, visibility was zero at times ... but the tyres were excellent.

I think you are right Chris, they definitely improve the braking and I didn't realise they were a different size to OEM BS's

[The Loon]

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My A048's are good in the extreme wet, or they were on the Exige. Lot of tyre / wet weather pussies on here though :D

:D

TBH, when its very wet I drive like Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy :D

[s2k_Nut]

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:D

TBH, when its very wet I drive like Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy :D

:D

I have a racelogic traction control unit in the for sale section, would suit you perfectly Haroon ;)

[unclefester]

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:D

TBH, when its very wet I drive like Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy :D

If you adopt that policy on airfield days you might get more than tyre mileage from your clutch :LOL:

[chrisr111]

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I didn't realise they were a different size to OEM BS's

Theoretically they are the same size, but not all tyres are equal.

A 215 from one manufacturer/range may not be the same as another.

The OEM BS050MZ is on the narrow side for a 215 but is ideal for a 7" wheel IMO as I like tyres to have square sidewalls IYKWIM.

I did notice that the Bridgestone's have a stiffer sidewall.

Chris.

[s2k_Nut]

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The OEM BS050MZ is on the narrow side for a 215 but is ideal for a 7" wheel IMO as I like tyres to have square sidewalls IYKWIM.

I did notice that the Bridgestone's have a stiffer sidewall.

Chris.

That is exactly how it feels through the steering wheel isn't it, that the wheels are somehow putting more rubber on the road and therefore making the steering heavier ... heavier in a good and literal way I mean.

[MUG3N]

[QUOTE=s2k_Nut,Sep 12 2010, 03:02 AM]

[s2k_Nut]

:thumbup: I will consider going back and asking thanks for the info.

Holy shi t I just been on a run through parts of the lakes, then hawes then 'devils bridge' ... not even sure where that is exactly (near Lancaster I think ) ... the roads were wet in places, damp in others dry in others ... I was running with 3 'kit cars' westfield type cars, one or two commented on how well the S went through the same corners as them. I know I was only braking when they did and the traction on acceleration impressed me even more today keeping up with these cars.

Well in two days since installing the tyres I have driven 517 miles, they would be 'hard' miles, spent near £150 on fuel alone, been grinning from ear to ear and I feel like I have a new car to be honest. Superb!

[LTB]

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Holy shi t I just been on a run through parts of the lakes, then hawes then 'devils bridge' ... not even sure where that is exactly (near Lancaster I think )

It's in Kirkby Lonsdale, about 10 or so miles from Lancaster.

Bet there were plenty of bikes at the bridge today.

:)

[s2k_Nut]

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It's in Kirkby Lonsdale, about 10 or so miles from Lancaster.

Bet there were plenty of bikes at the bridge today.

:)

:D yes Lee many bikers there, however none were jumping off it .. which is apparently fun to do into the river below ... ! Some pics :)

[LTB]

Did you put your hands in the Devil's hand prints which are about half way along the bridge ?

When I was a lot younger we used to camp alongside the river Lune in and around the Kirkby Lonsdale area.

[chrisr111]

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I wonder what they are like in the extreme wet.

The boss of the place I had mine fitted told the tyre fitter to warn me to be careful in the rain. Apparently they had fitted quite a lot of these tyres (not to S2000) and knew of a few people that had spun their cars in the wet.

Chris.

[s2k_Nut]

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The boss of the place I had mine fitted told the tyre fitter to warn me to be careful in the rain. Apparently they had fitted quite a lot of these tyres (not to S2000) and knew of a few people that had spun their cars in the wet.

Chris.

I have seen some serious rain the last 2 days and 500 miles, these tryes gave me so much confidence and not a single concern ... maybe because I have a good GEO helps, but I would not hesitate in recommending these in the wet weather ... at least when they are new, no idea once they begin to wear however.

[s2k_Nut]

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Did you put your hands in the Devil's hand prints which are about half way along the bridge ?

No I didn't see them :(